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BORDER: Catching Terrorists Remains Top Job: Border Officials Say Few Big Drug Busts, Arrests a Good Sign

Posted on: Sunday, 18 December 2005, 12:00 CST

By Susanne Nadeau, Grand Forks Herald, N.D., Grand Forks Herald, N.D.

Dec. 18--The tide of southbound marijuana at the North Dakota-Manitoba border is just that - it "ebbs and flows" - but U.S. officials say there's been no particular increase of incidents involving the drug that causes concern for security for the public.

The marijuana found at the northern border is only one concern, and not the largest, even with slightly increasing amounts of "B.C. Bud" or other hydroponically grown weed produced in British Columbia, Manitoba and elsewhere in of Canada, according to reports from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

Overwhelmingly, the number one priority of border agents since 9-11 has been counter-terrorism, and intercepting marijuana or other narcotics falls under traditional duty for border patrols, according to Glen Schroeder, chief at the Grand Fork office of the Border Patrol.

Still, in reports earlier this year, the DEA and the National Drug Enforcement Center acknowledge an increase in production of Canada-grown, high-potentcy pot that's intended for American users.

In November, the Winnipeg Free Press reported concern from a Canadian politician that drug gangs from B.C. and Manitoba, including the Hells Angels and some Asian groups, are slipping pot across the sparsely populated North Dakota-Manitoba border.

The politician, Tory justice minister Kelvin Goertzen, expressed a need for greater police presence on Manitoba highways and the border to "clamp down on those grow-ops and make sure the drugs are not on the highways."

U.S. drug reports

While Mexico by far remains the primary origin of marijuana smuggled into the U.S., Canadian pot has increased "largely because of the increasingly for-profit nature" of production there, most of it indoors, according to the National Drug Intelligence Center.

High-grade pot grown in Canada can sell for thousands more per pound in the United States, according to federal reports.

Amounts smuggled from the north usually range from very small quantities to 40- to 100-pound amounts transported in duffel bags, the center reported.

But, the report added, private and commercial vehicles are used increasingly to bring shipments of 200 pounds or more into the U.S.

The numbers

The numbers help tell the tale in North Dakota.

In 2002, there had been no significant busts in North Dakota, according to officials.

Then, in 2003, at or near the port of entry at Portal, N.D., northwest of Minot, agencies intercepted a load of about 1,235 pounds of marijuana coming across the border in a commercial truck, according to Mike Milne, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

That bust was one of 472 along the border that year, Milne said. Overall, from 2003 to 2004, 1,256 pounds of marijuana was seized at the border - all but 21 pounds from the Portal bust. From 2004 to 2005, there were 354 seizures, and about 13.3 pounds of marijuana was taken.

"A lot of those are a joint here and there, what we would call personal use stuff," Milne said.

When there is a big bust, the marijuana is not intended to stay in the state, Schroeder said.

"We haven't seen (B.C. Bud) on a sustained basis in North Dakota," he said.

Headed elsewhere

Most is headed for California, and some has been destined for Minneapolis.

Agencies covering the border in North Dakota are also responsible for parts of the Minnesota-Canada border, the area covered is more than 900 miles.

It's a vast undertaking, and officials stay on top of the border, in a sense. Surveillance is increased because of the network of agencies that work together to keep track of border issues, Schroeder said.

That network includes border agencies, port of entry, border patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and local, state and tribal law enforcement, Schroeder said.

A collective effort among agencies and between nations is what works best, according to Lonny Schweitzer, acting assistant chief at the Grand Forks office of border patrol.

"We're saying we all have a stake in this, let's go out and get the bad guys, then we'll sort it out," he said.

Arrests for narcotics, including marijuana, have been low, and that's a good sign, according to Schroeder.

"A good day is a day when there are no arrests, not in just what we do, but all across the board," he said. "That means we are successful, we are doing what we are supposed to be doing, preventing illegal activity at the border."

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Copyright (c) 2005, Grand Forks Herald, N.D.

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Source: Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, N.D.)

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